Kung Fu Panda: Hunter of Masters
by darkcastchamp
Summary: An old student from long ago finally returns to the Jade Palace only to see that much has changed since he has left all of those years.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Many years ago -

"Master! Master Shifu!" Running up the steps of the Jade Palace was a brightly faced, desert-yellow furred, coyote boy who would switch from running up the stairs to running along the rocks and tree branches that were on the side, doing many jumps and flips as he neared the Palace's entrance. Once he made it up, his bright expression slowly faded away as he saw that the front gate of the Jade Palace was broken apart as the sunning was starting to rise up in the distance. Dropping his bag that he was holding, the young, coyote cub dashed inside as fast as his little feet could take him, his tail fluttering behind, "Master Shifu! Master Oogway! Big brother Tai!" He called out each of the name of those who were closest to him until he finally arrived in the courtyard to see that, from the main hall, Tai Lung was being dragged out by some Rhino Guards within a full-body, acupuncture cuff. "Brother Tai…wait! Let him go!" The coyote ran, wanting to free his foster brother, not making the Rhino Guards like that one bit.

"Get out of the way." One of the Rhino Guards raised his fist, making the coyote cub stand back in hesitation. With the Rhino Guard throwing his fist out, it was stopped just as the quickly by the then, young, Red Panda, Master, Shifu. "You're already taking one of my boys away…I WILL refrain you from hurting my other one." With Shifu throwing the Rhino Guard's fist away, the Guard snorted in a scoffing way as him and another guard took Tai Lung and placed him into an escort carriage.

"M-Master, where are they taking Brother Tai?" The cub asked. Shifu's eyes were filled with sorrow as all he just merely did was walk over to the training hall with a worried, Master Oogway sitting from one of the balconies, looking onto the scene of the two.

\- Present Day –

Out on the sea, a ship was sailing from a foreign land, with the boat itself bearing Western Sails. The captain of the ship, a Golden Retriever who was wearing a fabric, white shirt and fabric, green pants, along with red clothes hanging over his shoulders, aptly walked over to the navigator, a sheep, who was steering the ship. "How long is it until we reach the trading port in China?"

"Not long now sir. We should be coming upon it on the horizon, soon enough." The navigator responded.

"Perfect. The sooner we drop of the goods and the passengers, the sooner we can leave these waters."

"Captain, why so nervous?" As if bearing a jinx to what the navigator was saying, the sound of a cannon could be heard off in the distance. "Ngh! Get down!" The captain yelled, tackling down the navigator as a cannonball burst right through the decorative mantle on the back of the ship. "This is why I'm so nervous, young navigator." The captain looked up to see a more rugged looking ship approaching them, bearing the flag of a black color with familiar, white symbols on it. "Damn pirates." He growled out looking out at a bunch of hollering boars, jaguars, all manners of reptilians, and more were staring down the trade ship with weapons in hand.

Down in the galley, civilian passengers were beginning to freak as people were grouping all together and trying to hold down a place to hide, hoping the sailors could fight the pirates back. In one of the back rooms though, a lone figure was sleeping on its side with a coyote tail hanging over the hammock he was sleeping in. When the pirate ship barged against the trade ship, the figure fell out of the hammock with a light yelp, bearing his fangs in a little yawn. Up on deck, the sailors were trying their best to fend off the pirates, but it was proving no good against the pirates' ferocity, eventually taking over the ship and capturing most of the crew.

Forcing the captain of the trade ship and his sailors to kneel down in a straight, the pirate captain finally boards onto the ship. He was a rather haughty pig who had two nose piercings on his left nostril and was only wearing a red vest that barely fit him and stretchy, brown trousers. "Why can't you darn foreigners learn when it's not safe to sail these waters? Especially since you lot always carry loot we can never find here." The pirate snorted as he laughed.

"It is up to us to cement our economy by trading with this country! Even if it means we have to deal with lily-livered cowards such as you lot!" The trade captain barked out as the pirate captain immediately placed his cutlass up against the trade captain's neck. "Well, now you see your folly. From it seems like now, there is no one else who can protect this ship from us taking everything it has!" The pirate captain laughed out with snorts thrown out all over the place, making his men laugh too.

A sudden slam of a door caused to attract the attention of all of the people, pirate and sailors in all. Looking over to the entrance to the galleys, someone walked wearing blue training pants and a blue gi with white linings and one of the long sleeves ripped off from the left side, revealing the person's entire left arm to be wrapped up in medical bandages, some of which had some loose strands floating about from the passing, ocean breeze. The sun finally hit this figure revealing his dessert-yellow fur, his always twitching ears, and his bright, brown eyes. A coyote stood before the lot. He let out a huge yawn, showing his sharp canine fangs again, "Hey cap, we here yet? Hm?" His eyes immediately opened up from their drowsiness to see the pirates as the trade captain seemed utterly dumbfounded by this boy's behavior. Smirking, the pirate captain held his cutlass out to the coyote boy, "So, looks like you'll be first one we'll-" Without even having a chance to react, the coyote jumped off of the flat side of the pirate captain's sword and landed in a crouching position on the pirate captain's head, forcing his hat to push down on him, "Huh?! What the?!"

"No way! If pirates are here then that must mean home is close~!" The coyote replied out in a cheerful tone before kicking off of the pirate captain's head to land on the deck-side of the trade ship, leaving the pirate captain's crew members just as baffled as the trade captain and his sailors were. "I really can't believe it's been so many years." The coyote reminisced, forgetting that the ship was trying to be seized by pirates.

Getting back up to his feet, with rage-filled eyes, the pirate captain slashed his cutlass at the coyote, "Do you have any idea who you're talking to?!" Dodging to the side, the coyote kicked down on the pirate captain's head, making him babble out some pain-filled nonsense while wobbling backwards from the hit. Now drawing all of their weapons, the rest of the pirates went in to attack.

Leaping into the air, the boy landed in the middle of the pirates and started delivering punches and kicks all around, knocking the pirates back with each attack with speed and grace. One pirate tried to attack him from behind only for the coyote to the stop the blade by pinching his canine claws on the sides right before delivering a quick, side kick to blast the pirate into more of his pals. Taking the newly acquired sword in his hand, the coyote began to slash through the crowd, clanging the sharp edge with incoming swords and knocking back enemies with the flat side, either knocking them out or overboard. With one last strike, the coyote threw the sword into the mast right in front of the pirate captain's face, who was trying to escape during all of the commotion. "Stay." The coyote smirked.

The trade captain and his sailors were eventually freed as the tables were turned on the pirates, tying them up in return. Minutes later, the ship would arrive at a port stationed within China, as passengers were departing along with sailors bringing the tangled up pirates with them. "Hey boy, thanks again for the assistance. Without you coming in at the last second, we wouldn't have a reason to have finished our travel here." The trade captain gave his esteemed thanks.

"Hey, no problem. Really though. Those pirates, if they have any bounties on them, should net you guys a pretty hefty reward." The coyote responded.

"Are you sure you wouldn't want part of the reward for being the key figure in their capture?"

"Mmmm…no. You guys could use that extra money to fix your ship." The coyote turned around to smile at the trade.

"Heh, then please, at least tell me your name, young one." The captain requested.

"Haha, alright. My name is Shamo, Shamo Quan (using the Chinese style of saying the family name first)." The captain nodded with the information given, "Thank you very much, Mr. Quan. I hope you enjoy your visit here in China." The coyote boy shook his head, "Nope, not a visit. More like a…reunion."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

It didn't take long for Quan to find a travelling cart to hitch a ride on to begin his travels back to his homeland, the Valley of Peace. Many days passed where Quan would arrive at various villages and he would actually take a chance to stop and indulge himself in all of the activities that the city has to offer. His most favorite thing to do is to tell his extravagant adventures around the world since he left the Jade Palace so many years ago. The story he enjoyed telling the most was the "Tale of the Dancing Fighter".

"So one time, my travels took me to a land in the South West," He would usually start. "A land part of this great mass that the Europeans call the Americas. In the Southern part of this continent, there are these unique kinds of villages that I hear the Westerners call "Tribes". And it is where one of these tribes are located, I was able to meet the Dancing Fighter. I will say, upon arrival at this village, I wasn't exactly met with the most respectful of greetings. These tribes don't seem to take too kindly to outsiders, even those who live on the same continent as them. The tribes are more, um…how shall I say…more territorial with those who are not a part of their village. Once realizing the kind of skills that I was able to perform, the tribal king, that's sort of like this tribe's Emperor, bestowed upon me a challenge. If I won it, I would be accepted among the tribe as one of their own. If I had lose…" Quan would proceed to make a slicing motion at his throat, usually getting a rise out of his audience. "The challenge was simple. I was to fight against the tribe's most deadly combatant. Admittedly, I was scared, but at the same time, the fighter inside of me was burning up for the urge of such a foreign challenge and wanted to know how these people fought. I was not disappointed. I was taken to where this warrior was training only to look upon something truly marvelous. This man was juggling. Haha, now I know some of you may tell to get down from the box now, but it was how and what this warrior was juggling that made me astonished. The warrior was a Black Panther who was spinning around on the ground through the use of his upper body while his legs and feet were spinning about in the air, kicking up, wait for it, over a dozen set of stone rocks, and not those small pebbles that a little child could skip across a lake, I mean rocks that are bigger than the palm of my hand. A dozen of them, just being kept in the air by his feet as he was spinning around on the ground! I almost couldn't hold back my fighting urge that I wanted the match to start immediately, but, ever since my adventures in Thailand, a story for some other time, I learned to be a little more patient. Waiting for this Panther's training to end, he finished up by pushing off the ground by one hand with his feet still spinning around like a mill, delivering one last kick to each of the stones, shattering them into dust before landing on his feet, his forest-green eyes glaring right at me as his head lifted. With that, our fight began. This one's style was unlike anything I have ever seen. From research the locals called this fighting style, Capoeira, the loose translation meaning "One of the Jungle". He would dance around me and deliver unpredictable kicks and flips at me, forcing me off balance many times in the fight. Our battle lasted for many days and nights, even rain had subserviated over our battleground many times getting the both of us wet and dirty from our even-stated encounter. However, the exhaustion of fighting in unknown weather and territory finally took its toll on me as I was finally bested by the Panther, quickly being surrounded by the other, male tribesmen. Fearing the worst, I was shocked to hear the Panther call out to his tribesman and forced them back. He expressed to me, as best he could in the English tongue, "You, great warrior. No one ever last long with me. You deserve life." Because of his words, the tribe king allowed me to live, but curious in the Panther's form, I asked if he could help me learn his style. Much to my joy, he agreed. Now, I am one step closer to completing my dream of the Universal Martial Art."

One time when Quan was telling his story all the way back in England, one of the males from the tavern he was in, a bulky Bull-Dog, called him out, "That's a bunch of hob-gobbling if you ask me."

"Oh, you Englishmen always leave me stunned with your weird phrasings." Quan smirked, leaning against one of the tavern's support beams.

"If this so called "Capoeiramaana" thing exists, then maybe you wouldn't mind getting its existence disclosed by my fists, ya little abydocomist." The Bull-Dog proceeded to raise his fists up in a boxing stance.

"Oh please, if we must, I'd much rather not cause the lovely owner of this tavern a fortune in property damage." Quan winked and blew a kiss to the flustered, Poodle, Tavern Lady before walking on off outside followed by the Bull-Dog and the rest of the tavern's clients, circling around the two, yipping and hollering. "I hope you're ready for the beating of your life you little fopdoodle." The Bull-Dog smirked while cracking his knuckles.

"I swear are you guys speaking words or trying to come up with the most weirdest pet names." Quan immediately had to throw his head back to dodge a hook from this burly canine, forcing Quan to flip back and away. "Ooooh, nice form there, buddy. You could work on the aiming a bit."

"If you would just stand still then there wouldn't be a problem." The Bull-Dog kept throwing punches at Quan who just measly side-stepped the barrages before delivering his own attack, a swift high kick right underneath the mutt's jaw, sending him backwards onto the ground, out cold. Quan let out a sigh alongside a smirk he wore, "So uncivilized…"

There were many other times that Quan had to prove himself during his story telling, but he was eventually rattled awake by a little bump from the road, encouraging him to look on where he was currently. His usual smile would come right back to his face as a large village could be seen coming in view with a large mountain standing behind the village. Right at the top of the mountain itself sat the Jade Palace, or as Quan likes to call it, "Home…"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Quan slowly walked through the familiar streets of the Valley of Peace's village, seeing the people walk about, carefree and the children about without fear. It reminded Quan of his own childhood, spending it up at the Jade Palace with Tai Lung. They would spend most of their day, running around the courtyards and Tai Lung would even let Quan practice with him, whenever Shifu wasn't around to nag them. Quan's life wasn't really the best before he came to the Jade Palace. Out on the street, he was a beggar at the mere age of five, having been orphaned from ravaging wars. At that point, he has known no shelter warmth or even the pleasures of having a stuffed stomach after a large meal. It wasn't until the fateful that the boy was come across, on the brink of death by cold and starvation, by the young Shifu and not so old Oogway. They treated him back to health and Shifu was going to send the young pup on his way, but at the concerns of Master Oogway, Shifu allowed Quan to stay in exchange for work, since sheltering never comes for free, the first lesson that Quan has learned at the Jade Palace.

He would cook most of the meals and clean not only the living quarters, but also the dojo and the walkways of the palace. Quan never complained one bit though, because after that point he has never known a chilling cold or empty stomach while living there. One fateful day, he snuck to the dojo and watched as Tai Lung went through one of his training regiments and the young coyote was completely astonished by the wonderment and flowing grace of kung-fu. After the training regimen was completed, Quan revealed himself and bowed his head on the floor to Shifu and Oogway with an observing Tai Lung on the side. Having most of his efforts on training Tai Lung, Shifu didn't bat an eye when he refused Quan's request for Shifu to teach him. With Oogway, however, he offered to take Quan under his wings, much to Quan and Shifu's surprise. It was then that Quan's path towards his mastering of Kung-Fu has started, until the fateful day when Tai Lung was imprisoned…

Quan's reminiscing was cut short by the sound of his stomach growling and coincidentally enough stopped right in front of a noodle restaurant. Walking into the outdoor seating area, the smell of the food immediately hit his nostrils, "Whoa, th-that's new." His tail straightened up as he went over to what he believed to be the order desk which was the little hut in the back that had steam coming out of it from the cooking food. The place was rather packed as Quan was hoping he could get a seat after ordering. "Hello?" Quan peeked his head through the open window of the hut, wondering if the host was there.

"Hello!" Quickly jumping in front of Quan's face was an old goose wearing a red gi and has on a hat that's knitted like a bowl with noodles in it. "AH!" Quan jumped back, immediately startled by the goose's sudden gesture. "Oh, no need to be startled. Welcome to Ping's Noodle Restaurant. I am your host, Mr. Ping. What can I be able to get you?"  
"Um…" Quan looked up at the menu, not having hometown food in a while. He wasn't sure what he should start with. Dumplings, ramen, soup, "It just all sounds so good." Quan drooled slightly.  
"Well then, how about I make you Dragon Broth Noodles?" Mr. Ping offered.  
"Heh, sounds enticing. Are you sure it's not cause it's the most expensive dish here?" Quan raised an eyebrow, smiling, making Mr. Ping laugh in return, "Seems like you've got attention. You have no idea how many people will just accept an offer without knowing the price."  
"Well, when one's been around places, like I have, you learn to always be cautious." Quan admitted. He learned this lesson back in Singapore when he was almost conned out of all of his hard-earned fight money from an attractive vixen. "So, an outsider huh?" Mr. Ping looked up at Quan while preparing the dish in the back.  
"Actually, I'm a local. I've just been gone for a long…long time."  
"Oh, well what brings you back? Homesick? Sometimes that happens with my son while he travels." Mr. Ping conversed while chopping up some vegetables.  
"I guess fathers always know, huh?" This made Quan chuckle lightly, thinking about Oogway and Shifu, making him want to eat quickly so he can head on up to the palace. From inside with Mr. Ping, a loud clang sound could be heard followed by a, "Ow!"  
"Oh my." Mr. Ping narrowed his eyes as Quan looked over to see a massive Panda who's head just came into contact with a hanging frying pan, "Dang, Ping, maybe you should warn me when you hang this in the middle of a walkway." The panda wore a wool vest overtop a green robe. "Whoa…" Quan looked at the creature as he's actually never seen a panda before. "Hm?" The panda looked at Quan, who was still staring, "Um, can I help you?" The panda asked.

"Oh, Li, I already took his order while you were probably slumbering in the back on top of the stock boxes." Ping ridiculed as Li yawned and chuckled out. Just then, Ping placed the order on the wooden counter between him and Quan, "Well, here you are."  
"Thank you very much, Mr. Ping." Quan bowed before giving out the gold pieces to pay for the meal and taking it over to a table. Taking a slurp of the noodles, his eyes widened before he started to slurp up more like there was no tomorrow, making Ping laugh out, "Another satisfied customer."

While Quan was eating, some people were gasping out, "It's the Dragon Warrior. The Dragon Warrior's here." Hearing the title "Dragon Warrior" made Quan accidentally spit out some of the broth, "Wh-What? Dragon Warrior? They finally gave that title?"

"Hey pops!" A loud and care-free voice shouted from behind Quan as he slowly turned to see yet another panda, but this one just wearing a dark orange pair of fabric shorts and cloth shoes. "…What?" Quan was indeed surprised to see that it was this panda whom people were eyeing at as "Dragon Warrior" were slipping through their lips.

Amazed, yet baffled at the same time, Quan couldn't help but stare the entire time. "Ah, son, did you forget something?" Mr. Ping called out, making Quan do a double take from what Mr. Ping proclaimed this panda as. "Yeah, I forgot my pans, promising the Five and Master Shifu that I would make dinner tonight." The young panda replied.

"That's just like you, my son, always forgetful." Li spoke out with a hearty laugh afterwards, making Quan's head tilt even more in confusion, "T-Two fathers?"

"Also, dad, be ready for your lesson tomorrow, okay?" The panda reminded Li.

"Ok, ok, I will." Li responded before handing the other panda cooking pans.

"Alright, later!" The panda then ran on off, making Quan run over to the restaurant entrance as he watched this strange panda run straight in the path towards the Jade Palace. "…What the heck happened while I was gone?" 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Quan's eyes were laced right to the ground, staring at each of the stone steps that would lead right up to the Jade Palace. Quan's movements were slow, but with an analyzing purpose. To him, each of these steps seemed to represent a memory during his times at the Jade Palace, making him take ages to get to the top of the flight of stairs. One particular memory that popped into his head while perusing down memory lane was when Oogway tried to teach Quan the important of a calm mind. How did that go? Well, you try and teach a 6 year old, Coyote pup how to be calm. It's practically in their nature to be rambunctious and unaware. Quan seemed to have kept Oogway's teachings in his mind though as it was one of the first things that Quan wanted to try and master when he set off on his journey. His wants would eventually lead him to a Zen Temple in the mountain areas of Japan where Quan was able to meditate inside a chilling temple for over a week, giving him the basis of what he needed before his inevitable reality check when he eventually traveled over to Thailand.

Well, some of you may be wondering, what exactly happened in Thailand? That story is still on hold as the sound of intense training seemed to have been going on behind the front entrance of the Jade Palace's training grounds. Almost as if he was filled with nostalgia from his days with Tai, Quan ran as fast he could before opening up the front entrance to see the, currently occupied, front courtyard where most of the outdoor exercises took place. Before Quan's eyes were these martial artists who would perform kung fu that he's never seen before. A tiger, a viper, a monkey, a crane, and a, "A mantis?" Quan's sudden out loud thought echoed through the courtyard as now the five fighters' eyes were fixated on the Coyote. Emerging from the five was the female tiger who had a beautiful coat of fur, that Quan could've swore had light glistening off of it. She was also wearing a long, white gi with black outlines and black training pants. "Um, can I help you?" She asked Quan with a slanted look of curiosity, but her eyes also teemed with a glint of cautiousness and carried an intimidation that made the hair on Quan's tail stand up straight. "Um, yes, I am looking for the Head Master of this place. Could you tell Oogway that Shamo Quan has returned?"

What happened next, Quan wouldn't have been ready for. The tigress's eyes bore a twinge of sadness as her eyes averted from Quan for a brief moment, "I'm sorry to inform you, but Master Oogway is no longer the head master of the Jade Palace…he has passed years ago." Quan's stomach felt like it had a boulder dropped inside of him, but at the same time his thoughts had rationalization to them. Even when he was young he thought the old turtle would keel over at any second. He shouldn't have been surprised that Oogway would pass away during Quan's lifetime. "I-I see…" Quan stammered as he took the news.  
"Um, pardon me for asking," Quan looked around for the new voice before he looked down to see a green, female snake with yellow markings on her back and well-groomed eyelashes, almost like that of Japanese Geishas that Quan met during his times in Kyoto, Japan. "But how do you know Master Oogway?" The viper finished.

As Quan was about to answer, his speech was quickly stopped by a voice he hasn't heard forever, "Quan…?" Quan looked over towards the wooden temple that stood within the front courtyard as he would see the now old, Red-Panda, "M-Master Shifu!" Quan ran over to the old teacher as he get on his knees and bow his head to the ground with his hands placed down to the side. Shifu kneeled down and placed his hand on the back of Quan's head, "You've finally decided to come back."

"I'm sorry, Master, it's just I've been away for so long, I had to come and visit once again." Quan's entire body shook as he was almost on the verge of shedding tears of happiness for seeing someone from his past.

"Now now, there there…" Shifu's hand slowly started to rub the back of Quan's head now as Quan's tail suddenly began to wag, making some of the Furious Five snicker from how adorable it seemed.

Quan sat back up to his knees, looking his Master in the face, "Master Shifu, I heard about Master Oogway…" Shifu sighed out, "I'm sorry Quan, I wanted to send you a letter about his passing, but of course," He then, in a way only Master Shifu could do, thwacked the top of Quan's head with his staff, "You never wrote to us, telling us where you were!"  
"Ow! Hey, that hurt!" Quan held his head in slight pain.

"Oh, come on, after all these years don't tell me you still haven't toughened up!"  
"And don't tell me that after all these years, you turned into a crotchety old fool!" Quan lashed back, making the Furious Five all gasp in shock. They've never heard ANYONE talk like that to Shifu. But what happened next would only baffle historians in the far future…the two began to laugh, almost maniacally, "Oh, I've missed that rebellious foolishness of yours, Quan. It's always been a breath of fresh air."

"And I've missed your constant nagging and nut-busting personality, Master." Quan laughed back, but there was still one more question he had that was unanswered. "Master…what of brother Tai's fate?"

"…He…eventually escaped from Chorh-Gom Prison." Shifu started.

"Kind of figured…he's not one to stay in a single spot for so long." Quan commented.

"But, I'm happy and proud to say he was stopped." Shifu smiled since Tai Lung's actions has always been the biggest ghost of his past.

"And how was he stopped? Was it Oogway? These five here? You?" Quan continued questioning.

"Oogway passed before Tai Lung escaped. The Furious Five tried to stop them, but they were beaten…rather easily, might I add." Shifu gave the five quick, scary looks, making all five of them look away in wide-eyed, comedic terror. "And I…well…I loved Tai Lung like a son. I could've never beaten him."

"Then who?" Quan continued. Shifu paused for a moment before answering, "The Dragon Warrior."

"The…panda?" Quan said almost in complete shock and awe.

"Yes, the pan- wait a minute, how did you know the Dragon Warrior was a pan-" Before Shifu could finish his interrogation, a loud shout came over from the stairway leading to the training grounds, "Hey everyone! I got the stuff to make dinner tonight!" Running through the gates was that same panda that Quan encountered back at that amazing noodle shop. "So it is true…" Quan smiled lightly, "You ARE the Dragon Warrior."

"Weeeell, I don't like to brag about it, but, yes, I'm Po, the Dragon Warri-" Before Po could finish his introduction, he had to stop a quick and claw bore attack from Quan himself…


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Quan?! What is the meaning of this?!" Shifu yelled in outrage at Quan's attempt in attacking Po. Quan payed no attention as he only continued slashing out series of claw swipes, finally knocking the pot that Po was holding up for defense out of his hand. Quan landed back on the ground before dashing straight up to Po to perform a double downward claw strike to slash from Po's shoulders and down. Po quickly defended himself with a double high block, pushing Quan's arms away to counter with a straight palm thrust only for Quan to push that away with his own defense. This whole punch, defense, counter scenario went back and forth between the two, continuing for the next couple of seconds.

"Everyone move in! We have to help Po!" Tigress and Furious Five were about to leap in before Shifu stopped them, "Master, what are you-!"

"Leave this fight be!" Shifu ordered as Quan leaped up to deliver a falling axe, which Po hopped backwards to dodge, but didn't notice that as soon as Quan's heel smashed into the ground, he immediately followed up with a rising side kick right into Po's gut, sending Po flying into one of the wooden poles from the training ground's front gate, "Gotcha!" Quan smirked only for Po to bounce right off the wooden pole and belly bop right back into Quan, sending him flying backwards and skidding across the training ground. "Po!" Tigress and the rest of the Furious Five went over to their downed friend only for Tigress to immediately look over at Quan, who was getting up. Growling in anger, Tigress leapt forward at Quan, slashing towards him with her own claws, using her Tiger Style martial arts. Quan recovered quick enough to barely block her downward strike but was about to get punched in the gut from Tigress's other fist, only for her hand to immediately stop just before it came into contact. "Your tail?!" Tigress witnessed as Quan's coyote tail seemed to have looped under, in between his legs and wrapped around her wrist to stop the second attack. "Desert Corkscrew!" Quan yelled before leaping up, performing a spinning, double-foot dropkick right into Tigress's chest, making her feet skid back a good dozen feet for Quan to give himself some distance. But before Tigress could get back at him, Master Shifu jumped. "Master, get out of the way!" Tigress pleaded.  
"That's enough!" Shifu ordered, making Tigress back off, "I told you five to stay out of Po's fight!" He then turned to Quan, "And you!" Immediately following with a good thwack to Quan's head from his staff, "What were you thinking, attacking Po like that?!"  
"H-Hehehehehe…" Quan lightly chuckled at Shifu's question. "Not only is he the Dragon Warrior, but he also defeated Tai Lung, and, I guess, somehow gained Master Oogway's blessing. I had to see this skill for myself."

"You know, you could've just asked for a fight." Po stated.

"But one only fights at their best if they think the situation is life or death." Quan smiled, actually making a solid point. He got up and slowly petted his own tail, "Yikes, you almost made me pull a muscle from how strong that punch was." Quan laughed after looking over at Tigress. "So…the Furious Five. I've heard about you guys from my travels in other parts of Asia before I went abroad. From my little scuffle with her, I can tell you guys are the real deal."

"Well try to attack Po like that again and you'll be wanting to do more than sleep with one eye open." Tigress threatened, prompting Quan to hold his hands up in innocence, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, easy kitty. I was only testing him. From how hard my head is pounding, I'd say he passed."

"Passed? Passed for what?" Po asked.

"Well…to be my next master of course." Quan smiled much to everyone's shocked reaction.  
"MASTER?!" Everyone exclaimed, even Shifu.

In the sleeping quarter's kitchen area, Quan, Shifu, and the Five were all sitting at the kitchen table while Po was making dinner for everyone. Quan himself was happily sipping on a cup of oolong tea, not having his favorite drink since forever. "God, nothing's better than herbal leaf, am I right? You should taste some of the muck that they got over in Europe." Quan joked as not everyone was still in a laughing mood after Quan's little stunt in the training yard.

"What did you mean you want wanted Po to be your "next" master?" Shifu asked, leaning close to the table.

"Mmm, exactly what it means?" Quan shrugged, looking at Shifu wondering how something so simple wasn't understandable.

"N-No, I mean, what do you mean by "next"? You say that like you had other masters." Shifu analyzed.

"Well, I kind of did." Quan admitted. "Actually, believe it or not, Master Oogway was the one who encouraged me to go out and journey into the world."

"Oogway did?" Shifu asked, confused.

"Yeah. It was about a decade after Tai Lung's imprisonment that Oogway told me I had great potential." Quan explained.

"I wonder what he meant by that." Tigress glared.

"Well, he told me I had amazing adaptability, especially since I was able to create my Coyote Style in order to use wily tactics and swift counterstrikes to my advantage. But he also noticed that if I was ever to put my mind to something, I could be able to duplicate it. He thought I had the great potential to be a master of several styles. Then the thought occurred to me…why not just be the master of several styles, instead of being the master of ALL styles." Quan smiled.

"A…master of all styles?" Monkey questioned.

"Yeah, that sounds a little extraneous." Crane interjected.

"Sounds more like a fool's grandeur to me…" Tigress insulted.

"You don't think I can do it?" Quan eyed over at Tigress.

"I'm saying it's impossible. Nobody can be so devoted to so many styles at once?" Tigress argued, only making Quan stand his ground, "Well what's the difference with training your body in one style vs training your body in another. The body training is the same. All one really needs to devote oneself to are the style's motions and philosophies and I know I can be able to find a way to incorporate everything into a Universal Martial Art. That's why I went out on my journey. I have visited monks in the mountains of India to challenging brutal fighters in the boxing dugouts of England. I'm going to fully learn every style so one day, I can leave my name down in history as the "Universal Martial Arts Master"…that's why I want Po to be my next master."

The way how Quan spoke about his dream…even Tigress couldn't deny the passion that was spoken from the Coyote's mouth. "Wait a minute." Po said as he turned to face everyone now. "So…you're a travelling martial artist who goes around the world challenging Masters to see if they're worthy enough to teach you their arts."  
"Um…yeah." Quan nodded his head.  
"Ah!" Po pointed straight at Quan, "I-I-I know who you are! I've heard about from travelling merchants at my dad's noodle shop! You're the "Hunter of Masters"!" Quan looked at Po with a funny, shocked expression before looking at Shifu, "Is he always this excitable?"  
"Sadly yes." Shifu responded with narrowed eyes.  
"So…what do you say, Dragon Warrior? Will you take me on as your student?" Quan turned to face Po.

"Seriously? Of course!" Po responded with a smile.


End file.
